By 1912 he was in the Panama Canal Zone, employed by the
Panama Star and Herald. His itinerant journalistic career continued in New Orleans (for the
Item), in Atlanta (for the
Journal), and in San Francisco (for the
Call). It was at the
Call that he earned the nickname "Rough House." He was noted for such exploits as leading a former king of Siam on an incognito tour of the local night life and spiriting an excellent set of wicker furniture from the Danish pavilion at the Pacific Exposition, bestowing it on the local press club.
In 1917 Ross enlisted in the Army's Railway Engineer Corps, but he spent little time in those ranks, volunteering instead to work on Stars and Stripes. He was immediately made editor of that publication. His editorial board included a number of men who were to prove important in his later life, notably the belle-lettrist Alexander Woollcott. While in Paris with the army he married Jane Grant, the first of his three wives. She was a reporter for the New York Times and an ardent feminist. At that time Ross also founded a circle of wits he called the "Thanatopsis Literary and Inside Straight Club," which was publicized by Franklin Pierce Adams (F.P.A.) in his New York World column.
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